Clash between BJP, Samajwadi Party workers outside counting booth in Lucknow

A clash broke out between workers of the ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on Tuesday, with many facing severe injuries, officials said.

The scuffle broke out outside the Rama Bai Ambedkar booth in Lucknow where counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections is underway.

A video of the clash has gone viral on social media which shows the cadre of both parties clashing outside the counting booth amid scorching heat.

As per witnesses, a verbal dispute between the two sides escalated into physical violence, with both sides engaging in kicking and hitting each other. One Samajwadi Party worker got severe head injuries in the brawl.

Police arrived at the scene and separated the two sides. Later, cops were deputed outside the polling station to avoid such untoward incidents.

Uttar Pradesh is witnessing one of the fierce electoral contests between the BJP-led NDA and the Opposition-backed INDIA bloc.

The INDIA bloc was leading in 44 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and the NDA in 35, according to trends on the Election Commission website. The Samajwadi Party and Congress were leading in 37 and 7 seats, the election panel’s data for polls to the 80 parliamentary constituencies in the state showed.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which currently rules the populous state, was leading in 33 seats and its allies Rashtriya Lok Dal and Apna Dal in one seat each.

Stalwart leaders who have taken comfortable leads over their rivals are Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Lucknow, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav in Kannauj and Mainpuri, Congress candidates Rahul Gandhi and Kishori Lal Sharma in Rae Bareli and Amethi.

The BJP’s Hema Malini is leading in Mathura while Arun Govil is trailing in Meerut.

Senior BJP leaders Smriti Irani, Ajay Mishra Teni and Maneka Gandhi were trailing in the Amethi, Kheri, and Sultanpur while Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal(S) is leading in the Mirzapur constituency.

Notably, in Ghazipur, slain mafia Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari, who is an SP candidate, is leading by 56,326 votes against BJP’s Paras Nath Rai.